Necessities include food, sleep, water, and the things people need to stay alive and safe. Rewards, on the other hand, are what bring people joy and happiness.

It goes beyond an emotional response. When a person receives a reward, the brain increases dopamine. Dopamine is a part of the pleasure system in the brain and it, amongst other things, increases goal-directed behavior.

This reward system becomes activated when we do things like refresh the newsfeed on Facebook, eat delicious food, and receive business awards at work.

Why Are Awards Important?

Appreciating and recognizing employees leads to increased satisfaction and retention.

When people receive rewards from work, they are more likely to be productive, efficient, creative, energized, and committed.

More importantly, if people don’t feel appreciated at work, they will become dissatisfied and work less. The work they complete will feel stressful and unrewarding.

This may lead to chronic stress, which has debilitating effects on health over time. Stress causes anxiety, depression, insomnia, irritability, and headaches, to name a few ailments.

Chronic stress also leads to decreased function of major body systems, such as the circulatory system, digestive system, immune system, and reproductive system.

Staggering numbers of employees report feeling stress at work, this study citing at least 94% from a group of over 1,600 workers.

To decrease stress, you should take care of your team. Include people in goal setting so you can get their feedback on what’s reasonable and easily communicate external pressures on deadlines.

Then, you can provide rewards for that work getting completed. This makes the time spent worth it and generates workspace positivity while decreasing stress.

It’s important to note that any old award won’t do the trick in warding off disengagement and chronic stress.

What Awards Motivate People?

Although we’re talking about employees as a collective group, it’s important to consider the fact that employees are individuals. You can’t assume an award will hold the same value from person to person.

To find what motivates and inspires employees, you should ask for input and feedback. Nobody wants to receive something that’s useless to them.

Intangible Awards

Intangibles work for consistent motivation. This includes taking a person or a team out to lunch, giving them time off, or simply giving a shout-out in an email.

The idea with intangibles is to continue communicating to employees that you value them.

While a great motivator, these awards should be strategically paired with tangible awards.

Tangible Awards

An age-old motivation tactic is to give employees physical representations of success.

This includes trophies, plaques, and certificates. View here to get some ideas about shiny special rewards.

Otherwise, you may consider gift certificates, yoga retreats, or other physical items depending on the person’s taste (like a cool water bottle).

It may be wise to gift something that can help employees better themselves, physically or mentally. This could be a spa-cation, a membership to a gym, or simply a good book.

This type of reward will become more of a trend in the upcoming years, as millennials tend to favor personal development more than other age groups.

Again, it’s important to choose something that your employees want, not something you think they want. The only way to know that is to include them in goal setting and rewards.

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